


Lonely Like A Castaway

by Who_the_hell_is_Tre_Cool



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pirate, But Also Some Historical Accuracy, Historical Inaccuracy, M/M, Mermaid!Ashton, Pirate!Calum, Pirate!Luke, Selkie!Michael
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-14
Updated: 2020-04-14
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:53:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23648023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Who_the_hell_is_Tre_Cool/pseuds/Who_the_hell_is_Tre_Cool
Summary: ' Luke tensed in Calum’s arms, clearly weary of the strangers, but Calum simply said, “See, I told you. Ashton is a mermaid, Michael is a selkie. Michael even gave us his sealskin to keep us warm.”“I thought mermaids had tails,” Luke eventually said, startling a laugh out of Calum.Ashton grinned, sitting down opposite them and handing over a cloth bag of fruit, “Tail disappears when I get out the water.”“Huh,” Luke hummed softly, “Alright. I guess that’s reasonable.” '
Relationships: Luke Hemmings/Calum Hood, Michael Clifford/Ashton Irwin, Michael Clifford/Luke Hemmings/Calum Hood/Ashton Irwin
Comments: 4
Kudos: 49





	Lonely Like A Castaway

**Author's Note:**

> The way they talk is clearly not historically accurate but!!! I did a small amount of research for some things which I will talk more about at the end.
> 
> Selkie's are quickly becoming my favourite mythical creature.

It was a clear, cloudless night, the sky an inky dark blue with a scattering of stars. The moon was not quite full, casting a cool light over the waves that brushed gently against the bow of the ship. Luke leant against the railing, watching the water below.

“Hey there sailor,” Came a voice, startling him. He turned around, relieved to see that it was only Calum.

Calum stepped closer, peering over the edge of the ship before wincing and stepping back. Considering he had spent the majority of his life at sea, Calum had a surprisingly weak stomach. Luke rolled his eyes, wrapping an arm around Calum and pulling him close.

“What are you doing up?” He asked, distracting him from the tumbling waves.

“Woke up and you weren’t there. You should stop wandering around at night, the captain’ll think you’re up to something.”

Luke sighed, “Yeah, I know. Shall we go back to bed?”

The pair headed below deck, Calum taking Luke’s hand and leading him over to their corner. There weren’t enough hammocks for the whole crew, so many slept on the floor with some blankets. Luke and Calum had claimed a corner, and no one cared enough to dispute them. Over the years they had collected a decent number of blankets and cushions that is was almost comfortable.

They settled down together, curled up close to conserve heat, lulled to sleep by the gentle rocking of the vessel.

Barely three hours had passed before they were roused from their slumber by the shouting of the first mate, spurring everyone into action for the new day.

Angry looking clouds were beginning to gather on the horizon when Luke and Calum got to work, the sea a bit rougher than it had been the night before. Calum looked almost green, and Luke picked up his slack every time he rushed to the side to vomit, ignoring jeers from the rest of the crew who loved to tease Calum for his ‘fragility’.

Come nightfall, the angry clouds had darkened, and the crew finished the day by securing ropes, preparing for what looked to be a particularly harrowing storm.

Calum woke up in the middle of the night, once again finding Luke to be missing. He sighed, crawling out of his blanket pile and making his way to the top deck, stumbling into the wall on his way up the steps as the ship rocked more than usual.

“Luke?” He called out over the sound of the wind and the rain, spotting the blonde boy at the head of the ship.

Luke turned at Calum’s approach, wind whipping his hair into his face. He looked to be lost in thought, and stumbled as the ship lurched, grapping Calum’s arm for balance.

“Luke-”

“Do you ever think we’re wasting our lives?” Luke interrupted, looking Calum in the eye.

Calum frowned in confusion, “What?”

“I was thinking, lately, like, I know travelling and stuff is a great experience, but there’s so much more out there...”

“I mean, yeah. Maybe,” the ship lurched again, knocking Calum into Luke, who stabilised them with a hand on the railing, “I mean, you know I wouldn’t mind being on land for a bit.”

Luke nodded, tightening his hold on Calum and blinking rain from his eyes.

“I joined the crew for some freedom y’know, but I feel more confined than ever,” Luke spoke softly, so soft that Calum wouldn’t have heard if they hadn’t been mere millimetres apart. “Not to speak ill of the captain-”

Calum interrupted him, “You know I wouldn’t care if you did.”

Smiling a little, Luke continued, “It’s sorta scary. I know he’s kinder than many, but he still shot that guy for criticising him.”

Calum’s reply was cut short as the ship jolted again, waves splashing over the sides and soaking the deck. Luke clung to him, even he looked frightened.

“Perhaps we should head back down. The storm seems to be getting worse.”

“Definitely,” Luke grabbed Calum’s hand, the pair stumbling across the deck, using the ropes and railing as support.

The waves were getting wilder as the wind speed grew, tossing the ship about. Luke and Calum were thrown to the ground, soaked by the wave that crashed over the side. Cold fingers gripped each other as they scrambled to their feet, although it wasn’t long until they were tossed again, this time thrown completely over board, struggling to maintain a hold of each other as they plunged into the icy depths of the ocean.

Their absence wasn’t noticed until morning, and even then they were written off as just another casualty of the sea.

###

Ashton would usually avoid swimming so close to a ship so large, but as the storm grew more violent, he felt drawn to it.

His instincts proved to be correct as a particularly vicious waved caused two figures to topple from the deck. Ashton watched them fall, diving below the waves to follow them. By the time he reached them, the blonde haired boy seemed to have succumbed to the water, but the brown haired boy met Ashton’s eyes, struggling against the current, gripping his friend’s hand.

Ashton surged forward, reaching out for them. The other boy’s eyes widened in panic, and he tried to keep a hold of his friend while trying to move towards Ashton. Ashton reached them just as the boy’s body jerked and went limp.

An arm around each boy, Ashton began making his way home, the journey slowed without the use of his arms. Even so, he reached his and Michael’s cove soon enough, the storm thankfully not quite reaching that far.

Michael was curled on the sand, using his sealskin as a blanket while he was in his human form. The selkie perked up at his friend’s approach, looking curious at the bodies in his arms.

Ashton laid the boys on the sheltered sand next to Michael, who busied himself by building up the fire while Ashton shed his tail and got dressed.

“So,” Michael started, pulling the boys closer to the fire, “Why are these different to all the other sailors you’ve drowned?”

Ashton shrugged, “I dunno. Instinct told me to drown the others, but these... I had to save them.”

Michael grinned teasingly, “Awww, Ashy boy has a crush.”

“Shut up,” Ashton shoved his shoulder.

Their light-hearted bickering was interrupted by a noise from one of the sailors. His body jerked as he slowly returned to consciousness. He rolled onto his hands and knees, seeming to not notice the fire as he coughed, hacking up sea water, trembling with cold.

When he finished and finally looked up, he regarded the other two with caution, although he seemed to recognise Ashton. The way he held his body, Ashton noticed, he seemed to be protecting the blonde boy, who was still unconscious.

“W-Who are you?” He asked, voice shaking. He looked freezing.

Michael leant over, wrapping his sealskin around the boy, who practically sank into the warmth.

“I’m Michael. This is Ashton, your knight in shining armour.”

The boy’s eyes widened, “You had a tail.”

“Yeah, mermaids tend to have those,” Michael responded, tone blasé, although Ashton could tell he was apprehensive about the boy’s reaction.

“Mer- Are you both mermaids?”

Ashton spoke up, “I’m a mermaid, Michael’s a selkie.”

The boy nodded, looking at Michael’s sealskin he had clutched around his shoulders, “And this is your sealskin?”

“Yeah, it’s the warmest thing we’ve got, and you’d probably die from the cold otherwise.”

The boy fell silent, shuffling closer to the fire before reaching out a bringing his friend closer, cradling his head in his lap.

“What’s your name sailor?” Ashton eventually asked.

“Calum.”

“And your friend?”

Calum gently brushed his fingers through the blonde boy’s messy curls, “Luke.”

Michael got to his feet, and Ashton followed his lead. “We’ll go get some food and water for you two. Give you some time alone.”

Although his gaze stayed fixed on Luke, Calum murmured a quiet, “Thank you.”

###

Watching Luke wake up was a painful experience for Calum, but once his lungs were rid of water, Calum pulled him into his lap, wrapping his arms (and Michael’s sealskin) around him.

Luke shivered, snuggling into Calum’s chest, “Where a-are we?”

“You’ll never believe this, but we got rescued by a mermaid and a selkie.”

“Don’t lie to me,” Luke scowled.

Calum laughed softly, “I said you wouldn’t believe me.”

“Why would a mermaid save two sailors when mermaids are a species known for _drowning_ sailors?”

“My instincts told me to save you two,” Came voice, and Calum looked up to see Ashton and Michael stood a few feet from the fire.

Now that the sun was beginning to rise, Calum could see the differences between Ashton and Michael compared to a normal human. Ashton’s skin was slightly green, with shimmering scales scattered across his skin, clusters around his elbows, his temples, his shoulders. His eyes were dark, and when he opened his mouth to talk, his teeth were unnervingly sharp. Michael was pale, skin an almost grey hue, with vitiligo-like patches of darker grey. He too had dark eyes, but everything else seemed fairly normal.

Luke tensed in Calum’s arms, clearly weary of the strangers, but Calum simply said, “See, I told you. Ashton is a mermaid, Michael is a selkie. Michael even gave us his sealskin to keep us warm.”

“I thought mermaids had tails,” Luke eventually said, startling a laugh out of Calum.

Ashton grinned, sitting down opposite them and handing over a cloth bag of fruit, “Tail disappears when I get out the water.”

“Huh,” Luke hummed softly, “Alright. I guess that’s reasonable.”

The group fell silent as Luke and Calum slowly picked through the fruit.

Once they were finished, Michael asked, “How long do you think you’ll stay?”

Luke shrugged, looking to Calum.

“It’s sorta funny, I suppose. Just before we were thrown off the ship, we’d been talking about how we wanted to leave the crew, spend some more time on land. How we wanted freedom.”

Michael grinned, “Fate must have heard your wishes, that’s why She brought the storm, why She told Ashton not to kill you.”

Ashton shook his head fondly, but didn’t comment, instead just saying, “Perhaps.”

“How did you two end up here in the first place?” Calum asked, shifting a little to support Luke, who seemed to be dozing off.

“Michael was trapped in an arranged marriage; the bride’s father had stolen his sealskin to force him to stay. He would come sit by the sea to get away for a while, and that’s where we met, and I had to help him.”

Michael picked up the story with a smile, “Ashton tricked the old man into giving me my skin back, and as soon as we could, we left. Far away. We found this island, there’s a little village on the North side, but this side is completely uninhabited, probably because it’s just sand and big rocks, so we set up here.”

The sun had fully risen by then, and Ashton stifled a yawn.

“We usually sleep in the cove during the day,” Michael said to Calum, “The sun gets pretty hot so it’s easier just to avoid it.”

“Well, I wouldn’t complain about sleeping right about now, and I don’t think Luke would either,” Luke made a soft noise when his name was said, lifting his head a looking around blearily.

Michael laughed and kicked out the fire until it was just some smouldering embers. The rest of them followed suit, Calum managing to rouse Luke enough for him to walk, although he leant into Calum’s side quite heavily.

Ashton and Michael lead them into the cove, where the rocks formed a number of small ledges and indents, sheltered from the sun and high enough to avoid the rising tide. One of the larger of these ledges had a few long leaves in front of it, which Ashton brushed out the way. Inside, the ledge was filled with various grasses and leaves, and a few blankets. It reminded Calum of his and Luke’s corner on the ship.

Michael climbed in first, lying against the wall. Ashton helped Luke up, who went easily, settling into Michael’s chest and falling back asleep almost instantly. Calum handed Michael his sealskin, before following suit, curling up to Luke like he had done almost every night of his life.

He felt Ashton climb in, shuffling about a little until the leaves fell back into place and the nook was thrown into relative darkness.

Ashton’s arm settled over Calum’s waist, Michael arranged his sealskin over them all, and for once in his life, Calum felt at home.

**Author's Note:**

> Historical stuff that probably no one except me cares about:
> 
> 1) Hypothermia wasn't named until the 1900's, which I had to check when Michael says "You'd probably die from the cold" bc he couldn't say hypothermia, although people had made the connection between cold and death, they hadn't worked out that it caused it's own specific illness.
> 
> 2) Calum comparing Michael's selkie marks to vitiligo IS historically accurate, as vitiligo has been referenced as early as 1700 BC, and the name vitiligo was coined from Latin in the first century AD
> 
> 3) This isn't history but Michael's arranged marriage is true to the selkie myths, although it would be a female selkie who's sealskin was stolen and hidden by her husband.


End file.
